April 8, 2026
Your morning brew of art world media
Welcome to Art Spell, a daily, comprehensive roundup of art news and reviews for the visual arts community. Today’s Editor’s Pick is Unlike Josh Kline, I Choose New York by Aruna D’Souza for Hyperallergic. A response to Josh Kline’s essay argues New York’s art crisis is rooted in structural inequality, not generations, and worth fighting to change.
Art in America
Emily Watlington, The Artist Whose Shimmering Obelisks Are Cropping Up All Over the World
The Art Newspaper
Elena Goukassian, Did the US Holocaust Memorial Museum self-censor to preempt Trump’s wrath?
Carlie Porterfield, Art Cologne heads to the beach with revived Mallorca edition
Martin Bailey, London’s National Gallery announces architects for new £350m wing
Melanie Gerlis, London galleries Edel Assanti and Emalin both announce expansions
Alexander Morrison, George Costakis, collector and saviour of Soviet avant-garde art, celebrated with Athens exhibition
Jacqui Palumbo and Benjamin Sutton, Our pick of the best museum and gallery shows to see in Chicago this spring
Hadani Ditmars, Native Americans created dice more than 12,000 years ago, study finds
Elena Goukassian, Did the US Holocaust Memorial Museum self-censor to preempt Trump’s wrath?
Ben Luke, A Brush With... Lorna Simpson—podcast
Artforum
Katia Porro, Pane by Pane: Spring shows from Marseille to Montpellier
From the Editors, Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Estate Sold to Florida Resort
Artnet
Annikka Olsen, America’s First Black Professional Artist Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight
Katie White, They Painted the American West. History Painted Them Out
Richard Whiddington, And Just Like That… Carrie Bradshaw’s Closet Hits the Auction Block
Jo Lawson-Tancred, Inside the Fight to Keep a Trove of Frida Kahlo Works from Leaving Mexico
Richard Whiddington, Sale of Robert Rauschenberg’s Captiva Compound to Developers Ignites Backlash
Vittoria Benzine, Lost Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller Photos Turn Up in Old Scrapbook
ARTnews
Leigh Anne Miller, Riyadh’s New Black Gold Museum Attempts to Convey ‘The Legacy of Oil Through Art’
Howard Halle, A Duchamp Retrospective at MoMA Presents an Artist Who Challenged the Very Definition of Art
Alex Greenberger, 100 Masterpieces to See at the Art Institute of Chicago
Maximilíano Durón, Christine Ruiz-Picasso, Founder of Museo Picasso Málaga and Artist’s Daughter-in-Law, Dies at 97
Harrison Jacobs, Tokyo Architect Kengo Kuma Beats Out Renzo Piano and Selldorf to Design National Gallery’s £350 M. New Wing
Brian Boucher, New York Gallery The Hole Sued Over Back Rent, Accused of Not Paying Artists and Workers
Tessa Solomon, Seoul’s Centre Pompidou, Three Years in the Making, Will Open in June
Maximilíano Durón, Counterpublic Triennial Names 47 Artists and Collectives for Upcoming Third Edition, Including Glenn Ligon, Rebecca Belmore, Rirkrit Tiravanija
ArtReview
From the Editors, Centre Pompidou to open Seoul outpost
From the Editors, Artist list for Counterpublic 2026 announced
The Brooklyn Rail
Erica Hunt, Visible Read
Erica Hunt, from “Coronary Artist”
Johanna Drucker, Truth Decay
Kamau Brathwaite, Kamau Brathwaite
sadé powell, sadé powell
Renee Gladman, Renee Gladman
Frieze
Akinsanya Kambon and Livia Russell, Work in Progress: Akinsanya Kambon
Qingyuan Deng, Miljohn Ruperto Rethinks Western Ideas of Time
Camille Bacon, 6 Exhibitions to See During EXPO Chicago 2026
The Guardian
Amy Fleming, Carnival celebrations at a Hungarian retirement home: János Bődey’s best photograph
Nadia Khomami, National Gallery picks Tokyo Olympic stadium architect to design new wing
Hyperallergic
EDITOR’S PICK - Aruna D’Souza, Unlike Josh Kline, I Choose New York: His new article taps into deep frustrations about affordability, but I throw my lot in with those making change, rather than moving out.
Rhea Nayyar, Elucidating the Esoteric with Hilma’s Ghost
Claudia Ross, In “Discipline,” Larissa Pham Explores Predatory Art-World Mentorship
Alex Paik, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha Made Human Again
Jennifer Samet, Beer With a Painter: Tom Burckhardt
Rhea Nayyar, Trump Threatens to Wipe Out Iranian Civilization
The Los Angeles Times
Jessica Gelt, One of LACMA’s first commissions finds new life at David Geffen Galleries
Leah Ollman, 17 must-see artworks in LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries—and why you won’t experience the same thing twice
Jessica Gelt, LACMA spent nearly $724 million on the David Geffen Galleries — here’s how it was all used
Jessica Gelt, Come for the Jeff Koons living sculpture, stay for the wine: A map of LACMA’s David Geffen Galleries
Sam Lubell, The new LACMA is divisive. It’s also ambitious, disorienting — and radically alive
Jane Horowitz, A $15 million Compton arts center is in the works thanks to this formerly incarcerated painter
The New York Times
Robin Pogrebin, An Audacious $724 Million Building Reinvents LACMA
Carol Vogel, Matisse is a Crowd-Pleaser. Here’s What the Crowds Rarely Get to See
Victoria Burnett and Zachary Small, Protests in Mexico Challenge Move of Frida Kahlo Trove to Spain
The New Yorker
Hilton Als, How Robert Rauschenberg Made the Real Realer
Observer
Jennifer Ashley Wright, The Most Outrageous Woman Who Ever Spent a Fortune
Camille Dubois and Esther Kremer, In Luxury Arts Publishing, Artists Are Reclaiming the Narrative
Elisa Carollo, At the New Museum, Parallel Visions of Humanity’s Future Emerge
Elisa Carollo, Sotheby’s Evelyn Lin On Asia’s Maturing Market, Young Collectors and the New Rules of the Hong Kong Sale
Elisa Carollo, Meet the Collector: Why Evan Chow Doesn’t Believe in the Coup de Foudre
Urgent Matter
Adam Schrader, Surveillance footage of protests reworked into installation on policing, injury
Art Spell is a subscription-based daily roundup of art news and reviews to help you stay current with what’s being reported on in the visual arts community. The profits from Art Spell are donated to organizations supporting art journalists and writers.